Seven nations book their places in September’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals by winning ties around the world this weekend — and stars of the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz played a big part in the heroics.

The most surprising result of the weekend was recorded by Belgium, which upset 18-time Billie Jean King Cup champions, the United States, on home soil in Ostend 3-1. Belgium took a 2-0 lead after Day 1 on the back of wins for Hanne Vandewinkel and Elise Mertens over Iva Jovic and McCartney Kessler on the indoor clay — with the latter forced to retire due to a sudden onset back injury at 3-3 in the final set.

But the hero of the tie was ultimately Greet Minnen, who subbed in against Jovic for Mertens in singles after Mertens and Magnali Kempen were defeated by Caty McNally and Nicole Melichar-Martinez in the opening match of Sunday’s slate to cut the home team’s lead in half. The 28-year-old former World No. 59, now ranked No. 149, beat Jovic 7-5, 6-3 to put Belgium into the Finals for the first time since 2022.

The U.S., meanwhile, will miss out on the chance to play for the Billie Jean King Cup for the first time since the event changed the Finals format to a single-site round-robin five years ago.

But that wasn’t the only headline from the weekend. 

Italy, Ukraine cruise into Finals

Two Top 10 players in the PIF WTA Rankings were competing in the Qualifiers — and they delivered appropriately. Jasmine Paolini and Elina Svitolina earned Italy and Ukraine uncomplicated wins over Japan and Poland, respectively, to seal spots in Shenzhen.

Two-time defending Billie Jean King Cup champions Italy led 2-0 after the first day of the tie at home in Velletri, as Paolini and Elisabetta Cocciaretto were straight-sets winners, before Paolini and Sara Errani delivered the clincher in doubles. World No. 8 Paolini has now won seven straight matches for Italy in the competition across singles and doubles, and 10 of her last 11. 

In Gliwice, Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk surrendered just seven games in four sets against Magda Linette and Kataryzna Kawa on Friday, before Lyudmyla Kichenok and Nadiia Kichenok sealed the tie with an epic 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-3 win over Maja Chwalinska and Martyna Kubka in 3 hours and 12 minutes. The twins trailed by a break in the final set.

Oleksandra Oliynykova, making her debut for the national team, finished the sweep with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Linda Klimovicova. Poland was playing without the services of Iga Swiatek.

Great Britain upsets Australia in Melbourne

Playing without any of its four players currently ranking inside the Top 100 — Emma Raducanu, Sonay Kartal, Katie Boulter and Francesca Jones — didn’t stop Great Britain from upsetting Australia 3-1 in Brisbane. 2024 US Open junior champion Mika Stojsavljevic got the visitors off on the right foot with a 7-6(4) 7-5 upset of World No. 56 Talia Gibson, turning aside a difference of 219 places in the rankings.

Stojsavljevic, 17, said she was “honored” to get the call-up from captain Anne Keothavong to the team, even before she sealed her second career win over a Top 100 player.

“Then, when Anne said I was playing the singles, that was even more incredible,” she continued. “I thought I was ready to do that and I think, more than anything, I proved that to myself today. I am proud of how I handled it.”

Later, Harriet Dart beat Kimberly Birrell 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to put the Brits up 2-0, and teamed with Jodie Burrage for the clinching win against Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez in doubles. Emerson Jones, also 17, beat Katie Swan in the final match.

Putintseva wins longest match of 2026 and Noskova staves off Czech elimination

Neither Canada nor Kazakhstan were playing with their Top 10 stars — Elena Rybakina and Victoria Mboko, respectively — but that didn’t stop Yulia Putintseva and Bianca Andreescu from putting on a show.

After both won their singles matches on Friday to send the tie to Day 2 even, the 31-year-old Putintseva found herself with an opportunity to win it for the home team after Anna Danilina and Zhibek Kulambayeva won doubles to start Saturday. Three hours and 36 minutes later — in the longest main-draw match of the 2026 season — Putintseva was a 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(4) winner over the former US Open champion to send Kazakhstan to Shenzhen.

Putintseva may have had the longest, but the most dramatic win of the weekend belonged to World No. 14 Linda Noskova in what was ultimately a 3-2 win for Czechia over Switzerland. Noskova saved three match points against Belinda Bencic in a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(9) fourth-rubber win, before recent Bogota champion Marie Bouzkova defeated Viktorija Golubic  7-6(4), 6-3 in the deciding match.

Full Results

Italy def. Japan, 3-1

Belgium def. United States, 3-1

Great Britain def. Australia, 3-1

Kazakhstan def. Canada, 3-1

Spain def. Slovenia, 3-1

Czechia def. Switzerland, 3-2

Ukraine def. Poland, 4-0